Lucas Bedford’s story
30 October 2025
Lucas was diagnosed with coloboma when he was only a few months old. Grateful for the care he received at Moorfields, Lucas and his family showed their support by joining our annual fundraising walk, Eye to Eye.
When Lucas was born his parents noticed a tear drop in his pupil, which was obvious whenever he looked up at them.
Lucas was born in late October, when there wasn’t much sunlight. This meant his parents didn’t notice any difficulties with his eyesight when taking him out in his pushchair. Bright light can sometimes reveal eye problems in young children.
Lucas’ local GP recognised his eye condition and referred him to the local hospital for eye tests. After two visits, the hospital still wasn’t able to carry out the tests, as Lucas wasn’t comfortable with them.
Diagnosis at Moorfields
As a result, the GP referred Lucas to Moorfields Eye Hospital. By then, he was nearly school age and it was during the covid.
That’s when he met Professor Mariya Moosajee and her team, who carried out an eye test, just like the ones at the opticians, and diagnosed Lucas with coloboma.
What is coloboma?
Learn more
Colobomas develop when the tissue inside an unborn baby’s eye doesn’t develop properly inside the womb, causing a gap in the tissue of the eye. This abnormality occurs during the first three months of pregnancy.
Colobomas can affect one or both eyes, and can affect almost any part of the eye, including the iris, the cornea, or the eyelid.
People are affected by colobomas in different ways, depending on their locations in the eye. The resulting gap might be visible to others, for example, as the gap can cause a key-shaped pupil. This can be masked with cosmetic contact lenses.
1 in 10,000
Colobomas occur in 1 in every 10,000 births
Because colobomas develop during pregnancy, those affected by the condition will have it for life. Many children and adults will not require any treatment at all, however some people might experience low vision or light sensitivity, which can be treated with glasses.
For some people, surgery is an option, where the gap in the iris is sewn together to correct the pupil shape and reduce light sensitivity.
Colobomas can also lead to other health issues, such as glaucoma and retinal detachment.
The team at Moorfields understood that Lucas was previously reluctant to receive help, however they took the time to earn his trust.
Lucas and the staff from the Moorfields children’s eye centre
They all took the time to get to know him, they earnt his trust, they helped him to relax, and also they relaxed us as well, they explained everything they were going to do, and eventually they became known as ‘his friends’.
Ed Bedford, Lucas’ father
Living with coloboma
After his diagnosis, Lucas wore a patch over his stronger eye for three hours a day for eighteen months to strengthen the eye affected by coloboma and preserve his vision for the future
To encourage Lucas to wear the patch, his family members would draw pictures of things he liked on them such as pokemon, ghosts at Halloween and his favourite football teams’ badge.
Lucas’ coloboma causes him to be sensitive to light so he always wears sunglasses and a baseball caps when outside.
Although, it has never stopped him from playing football, skiing, swimming, riding his bike or martial arts except for sparring.
Lucas lives life to the fullest and will give anything a go, nothing will hold him back.
Ed Bedford, Lucas’ father
Lucas has even raised awareness around coloboma by presenting at school and explaining it to his peers.
Lucas today
Lucas has been completely discharged from the care of Moorfields.
The vision in his left eye has become stronger so he no longer requires further treatment except for regular eye check ups at the local opticians.
Advice to other parents
Lucas’s parents advice to other parents with a child recently diagnosed with an eye condition is to not worry, overthink and panic.
Because he was born with a coloboma, it is all he has known and will ever know, he was still a healthy smiley boy and that’s what matters most, everything else we can deal with as and when.
Ed Bedford, Lucas’ dad
Lucas’ parents shared that the best advice they got was ‘until he can talk, we don’t know what he can and can’t see’.
People will often look at his eye and never quite know how to ask. Own it, own the coloboma, be proud of it, never shy away from it, if people look we explain it. We have done social media posts explaining about it.
Ed Bedford, Lucas’ dad
Raising money for Moorfields at Eye to Eye
Lucas’ parents have previously discussed raising money for an eye charity but Lucas was quite young.
Then an opportunity to raise money for Moorfields at Eye to Eye, the annual fundraising walk came up.
Lucas decided to take on the 15 mile route as he wanted to raise as much money as he could for ‘his friends’ so that they can look after other children like they had looked after him.
Lucas raised over £1800 for Moorfields.
My absolute favourite thing about Eye to Eye was seeing everybody cheering Lucas around the 15 mile course, people we didn’t know who were also taking part would give him words of encouragement, the event organisers at mile 12 who gave him one last push to the end and then to see people who had waited for him to cross that line and make him feel 10ft tall, to see his face cross that line and know that he has achieved something amazing, the community spirit was something else.
Ed Bedford, Lucas’ dad
Lucas’ parents encourages other to take part in Eye to Eye too.
Initially, Lucas wanted to raise money to help others, however in the process, he also discovered that he can achieve anything he puts his mind to.
You get to raise money for an amazing hospital doing amazing work at the same time, you get to meet amazing people who you share something in common.
Ed Bedford, Lucas’ dad
